From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 915 Magician

West Ham United and Antonio are in a rather unfortunate situation. They were first defeated by Manchester United in the Premier League, and then Antonio lost to Bruno in the Premier League Player of the Month award in August. Next midweek, they will face Manchester United again in the third round of this season's League Cup.

This is one of the few dialogues between Premier League teams in this round, and it is also the only match between two Premier League teams participating in European competitions.

However, all parties are optimistic about Manchester United's victory, on the one hand because Manchester United is in very good form this season, on the other hand, Manchester United also has an overwhelming advantage in the historical record of the two sides. Especially at Manchester United's home ground, West Ham United has not won 17 consecutive games. The last time they beat Manchester United at Manchester United's home ground was 14 years ago in May 2007, when they beat Manchester United 5-1 in the Premier League.

Despite the strong opponent, Mourinho still made a comprehensive rotation, and even Bruno was on standby on the bench.

Just 9 minutes into the game, Lanzini helped West Ham United score a goal, giving West Ham United the lead over Manchester United at the new Old Trafford.

After falling behind early on, Manchester United launched a counterattack. However, without Bruno's organization in the midfield, Manchester United's second team was like a headless fly on the field and performed very poorly.

In fact, the paper strength of this Manchester United II team is not weak. The goalkeeper is Romero, the four defenders are Dalot, Lindelof, Tuanzebe and Brandon Williams, the midfield trio is Bellingham, Fred and Mata, and the forwards are also Mahrez, McTominay and Diallo.

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Until the 70th minute of the game, Manchester United still couldn't equalize the score. Mourinho couldn't sit still anymore and made three substitutions at once. Bruno, Greenwood and Luke Shaw came on the bench to replace Mata, Diallo and Brandon Williams.

These substitutions had an immediate effect. With Bruno's appearance, Manchester United players seemed to have found their backbone.

In the 77th minute of the game, Manchester United got a corner kick opportunity.

Left-back Luke Shaw stood at the corner spot and raised his arm to indicate that he was about to kick off.

West Ham United's goal was crowded, and as they were unable to open up the game during the game, they needed to be extra careful with Manchester United trying to score from set-pieces.

Bruno also ran into the West Ham United penalty area, and two players immediately guarded him closely. Bruno is no longer the young man who was not good at heading at the beginning of his career, and he often scores headers.

Manchester United's center forward McTominay and two central defenders Lindelof and Tuanzebe were also competing for position with the opponent's defenders. The two sides were pulling and tugging, and the situation was chaotic.

The referee blew the whistle and Luke Shaw kicked the ball into the penalty area.

Bruno jumped in front and the two players defending him also jumped. However, none of them could head the ball and it flew through the air.

Lindelof headed the ball in the middle, he slightly touched the ball, changing its flight path. West Ham United goalkeeper Fabianski subconsciously dived, the ball was not hit out of the danger zone, and there was chaos in the penalty area.

You can only see offensive players and defensive players entangled together, both wanting to kick the ball.

Mourinho's eyes widened, and then he saw the net shaking. He raised his arms and saw McTominay running out with his arms also raised.

The Scotsman roared and rushed towards the corner flag, with the Manchester United players running just as excitedly behind him.

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"GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL!!!!" Lineker's voice rang out, "Scott McTominay! The 1-year-old Scottish striker finally scored a goal, 1:! Manchester United finally equalized the score!"

Mourinho swung his fist vigorously and smashed it into the air.

He finally waited until he scored. In this difficult game and at this time point, this was a goal of great value.

He turned his head and saw West Ham United coach Moyes covering his face with his hands in pain in the visiting team's coaching booth.

Mourinho understood Moyes' feelings. It was not easy for him to see the hope of defeating Manchester United, but in the blink of an eye the opponent equalized the score. His frustration can be imagined.

Manchester United's morale was boosted by the equalizer, and just five minutes later, they scored their second goal. Bruno received a pass from Bellingham outside the penalty area and suddenly shot a long shot. The ball drew a strange arc and went into the West Ham United goal.

2:1, Manchester United scored two goals in five minutes and reversed the score.

Ten minutes later, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Thanks to goals from McTominay and Bruno, Manchester United reversed West Ham United 2:1 at home and advanced to the fourth round of this season's League Cup.

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In another match, Chelsea faced Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. Neither side made any progress in the first half. In the 54th minute, Werner helped Chelsea break the deadlock and Chelsea led Aston Villa 1:0. In the 64th minute, Archer scored and Aston Villa tied Chelsea 1:1. The two sides tied in regular time and the match went directly to a penalty shootout according to the competition system. In the penalty shootout, Chelsea defeated Aston Villa 4:3 and finally Chelsea advanced to the fourth round.

Tottenham played away against Wolves. In the first half of the game, Ndombele opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 14th minute, and Tottenham led Wolves 1:0. In the 23rd minute, Ronaldo scored, and Tottenham led Wolves 2:0. In the 38th minute, Dendoncker scored a goal for Wolves. After the change of sides, in the 58th minute, Podence scored to help Wolves equalize the score! In regular time, the two sides tied 2:2, and the game entered a penalty shootout. Tottenham defeated Wolves 3:2 in the penalty shootout and advanced to the fourth round of the League Cup. Arsenal played against the English League One team AFC Wimbledon at home. In this game, Arsenal scored a penalty kick in the 11th minute with Lacazette, Smith Rowe scored in the 77th minute, and Nketiah scored in the 80th minute. In the end, Arsenal won 3:0 against AFC Wimbledon at home and successfully advanced!
As the third round of the English League Cup is over, the results of the fourth round draw are announced. Manchester United's luck is still very bad. They drew their city rivals Manchester City. The good news is that Manchester United will play at home. Chelsea will also continue to play at home, facing Southampton, Arsenal against Leeds United, Stoke City against Brentford, Leicester City against Brighton, Queens Park Rangers against Sunderland, Burnley against Tottenham, and Liverpool away against Preston.

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On the last weekend of September, Manchester United faced Aston Villa at home in the 9th round of the Premier League.

In the first minute of the game, Luke Shaw made a back-triangle pass from the left, and Bruno volleyed the ball without stopping, breaking the goal guarded by Argentina goalkeeper Damian Martinez.

1:0, Manchester United got off to a dream start!

Manchester United took the lead early and launched a massive attack. The team's game strategy was to just go for it without thinking twice.

Relying on Harry Kane's advantage as a center forward and the team's overall pressure in the midfield and frontcourt, Aston Villa was soon overwhelmed.

In the twelfth minute of the game, Bruno received a pass from Cancelo on the right, suddenly shook off the defender, cut all the way to the front of the penalty area, and passed the ball to Gundogan.

This time, the German midfielder came up and shot a curved ball with his right foot, sending the ball into Aston Villa's goal.

After scoring the goal, Gundogan was so excited that he hugged Bruno.

This is his first league goal of the new season!
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When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half of the game, there was a burst of warm cheers from the audience.

The scoreboard showed the final score of the first half, 3:0.

International practice is that the home team goes first and the visiting team goes last.

Soon after the opening, Bruno and Gundogan scored in succession, and Manchester United chased Aston Villa all the way. Bruno's pass was like a scalpel in the hands of a doctor, piercing Aston Villa's defense again and again, allowing Manchester United players to find shooting opportunities.

But Aston Villa goalkeeper Martinez performed very well and kept Manchester United's shots out again and again.

Despite the fierce attack, Manchester United suffered a blow in the 33rd minute of the game. Luke Shaw sat down on the ground after a confrontation with his opponent and gestured to the sidelines for a substitution.

This is not going to keep the game going.

Mourinho had to replace Luke Shaw with Dalot.

In the 3nd minute, Manchester United got a free kick in the frontcourt. Bruno did not shoot directly, but passed the ball to Maguire who was running forward. Maguire's header was saved by Martinez, but facing Bruno's follow-up shot, Martinez was finally helpless and could only watch Bruno expand the score to 0:.

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Manchester United's performance in the first half was excellent, with a strong offensive momentum. Bruno made 45 key passes in 6 minutes.

You should know that according to statistics, no player in the top five leagues this season has made more than 8 key passes in a game.

But unfortunately, Manchester United's front three seemed to have forgotten to bring their shooting boots.

Harry Kane had several chances in the first half, but his shooting was not very good today and he was always a little short of scoring. This made him look helpless when he saw Bruno when he walked off the court.

He really tried his best, but he was still a little short of scoring a goal.

He was also helpless about this.

Bruno's pass was already very good, can we blame Aston Villa players for not cooperating with him?

"It's okay, take your time, there's still the second half." Bruno comforted Harry Kane.

"Yes, sometimes the more anxious you are, the harder it is to score a goal." Gundogan also helped to persuade.

Harry Kane patted the shoulders of his teammates on both sides, shook his head, and walked off the field with a wry smile.

(End of this chapter)